3 ms·

Good point... I wasn't sure it was relevant to the discussion, but I've added a comment with a bit more detail. One of the main criticisms was that my niche (p

Good point... I wasn't sure it was relevant to the discussion, but I've added a comment with a bit more detail. One of the main criticisms was that my niche (photos on a white background) wouldn't be niche enough, which is a fair point, so it may be worth me pivoting and just targeting another niche instead.

revorad 16y ago
Great, looks like there might be some people here who know a thing or two about the photography business. (Aside for anyone posting for help on HN: Seriously, don't try to hide your idea. Your biggest problem is obscurity, not idea-thieves.) On the point about your niche though, a business does not necessarily have to serve a niche to succeed. You can simply compete on good old things like customer service, quality of product and even pricing (I mean expensive rather than cheap). "Pivoting" before you even start making something may not be a good idea. What will you do when someone else criticises your pivot idea? Jump to another idea again? Why don't you build something small that will be useful to some photographers? In the process, you will at least start a conversation with your target customers and then have a chance to find out their real problems. I know this may not be in line with the Lean Startup methodology (where the current cool thing to do is to make landing pages and boast about signups without having a product at all). But if you start building something that anyone uses at all, you will have a base to pivot from if the need arises. Mark Pincus of Zynga said in his Stanford talk that the biggest mistake he made when starting out was focussing too much on trying out just one game idea. He should have been thinking about building a platform on which to try out many game ideas. I like that approach and you could probably benefit from it too.

3 ms·

Good point... I wasn't sure it was relevant to the discussion, but I've added a comment with a bit more detail. One of the main criticisms was that my niche (p

by hellweaver666 16y ago

revorad 16y ago
Great, looks like there might be some people here who know a thing or two about the photography business. (Aside for anyone posting for help on HN: Seriously, don't try to hide your idea. Your biggest problem is obscurity, not idea-thieves.) On the point about your niche though, a business does not necessarily have to serve a niche to succeed. You can simply compete on good old things like customer service, quality of product and even pricing (I mean expensive rather than cheap). "Pivoting" before you even start making something may not be a good idea. What will you do when someone else criticises your pivot idea? Jump to another idea again? Why don't you build something small that will be useful to some photographers? In the process, you will at least start a conversation with your target customers and then have a chance to find out their real problems. I know this may not be in line with the Lean Startup methodology (where the current cool thing to do is to make landing pages and boast about signups without having a product at all). But if you start building something that anyone uses at all, you will have a base to pivot from if the need arises. Mark Pincus of Zynga said in his Stanford talk that the biggest mistake he made when starting out was focussing too much on trying out just one game idea. He should have been thinking about building a platform on which to try out many game ideas. I like that approach and you could probably benefit from it too.